The Senate has raised the alarm that there was no provision for the population and housing census scheduled for next year in the National Population Commission, NPC, 2024 budget proposal, which was submitted to the National Assembly for consideration.
Speaking yesterday in Abuja while presenting the report of the Senate Committee on National Population Commission to members of the National Assembly Joint Committee on Appropriations, Chairman of the Committee, Senator Abdul Ningi (PDP, Bauchi Central), who noted that there was no provision, said that if the money for the census was not provided for in the budget, the country would loose about N200 billion which had been spent by NPC.
According to Ningi, the NPC would appear tomorrow with their documentations to state how much it would need for the conduct of 2024 population census
He said: “The money spent for the preparation for the census will go down the drain and it is homogus amount of money, over N200 billion already spent, that is my take.
In his reaction, Chairman of the Joint National Assembly Committee on Appropriations, Senator Olamilekan Adeola(APC, Ogun West), who assured the panel on NPC that the Federal parliament would look for fund for the 2024 population census in the budget, said: “The head of the NPC should appear in company with the Committee Chairman to tell us what is needed for the conduct of census scheduled to hold in the first quarter of next year.
“Let me assure you that the country will not loose and we are going to work very closely with them so that 25 percent component is included. We must find a way to accommodate it in this 2024 budget.
“We will like the agency to appear along with the Chairman of the Committee, a synopsis of what is really going on about the census and whatever the issues are, I can assure we will resolve it and the population census will come up by the first quarter of 2024.
“Meanwhile, the joint Committee on Appropriations has supported the inclusion of the controversial N1billion in the 2024 budget of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment.”
Vanguard
